Texas Rangers second baseman Rougned Odor became public enemy No. 1 in Toronto on Sunday when he landed a right hook on Blue Jays superstar Jose Bautista following a hard slide at second base.
Advertisement
“I can tell when someone is coming hard to second base”, Odor noted, “so I was just trying to protect myself”.
Players from both sides of the field rushed to the field, and Odor and Bautista were ejected from the game along with Toronto’s Josh Donaldson and Texas bench coach Steve Buechele.
A day after the punch heard ’round the baseball world, Texas Rangers second baseman Rougned Odor said he has no regrets and was simply looking out for himself.
Girardi said that Sabathia will come off the DL and start Friday night’s game in Oakland.
When Prince Fielder was hit by a pitch in the bottom half of the inning, the benches emptied again. “As Bautista readied his own fist, Odor beat him to the draw with a Manny Pacquiao-caliber right hand”. Odor then shoved and punched Bautista in the face, ESPN noted.
“Obviously, we are going to be issuing discipline”, said Torre, who was at Chase Field for a pre-game ceremony honoring the late Joe Garagiola.
Ok, so now, I don’t want to debate the rule and what should or should not happen, I strictly want to discuss why I believe Bautista’s slide was dirty and that he deserved what he got from Odor.
Bautista, whose bat flip after a go-ahead homer in the ALDS against the Rangers last season likely played a role in Sunday’s quarrel, didn’t acknowledge the crowd as he stepped in against Drew Smyly.
Bautista insisted in the aftermath of the scuffle that Odor was only able to get him because he surprised him and sucker punched him.
“For me, I think it was a pretty hard slide, ” Odor said. Speaking to Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News, the highly respected Rangers third baseman said, “That happened and it’s in the past”. Regardless, you knew it was something the Rangers weren’t going to soon forget. Now we’ll have to wait until next season (or potentially this year’s playoffs), to see how the score will be settled next time. “I tried to send a message that I didn’t appreciate getting hit [by the pitch]”. Maybe most importantly, Jays fans learned that when in the United States at a ball game, when tensions run high, and the crowd starts yelling, “USA! USA!”
Every year in Major League Baseball, we’ll see a brawl or two, that while being excessively entertaining, makes you shake your head.
Advertisement
“I’m not going to criticize players for playing hard”, he said.
